Does workplace counselling have an organisational function?

Abstract

The moral, legal and economic implications of stress in the workplace are of increasing concern to employers, employees and government policy makers alike (see Our Healthier Nation Green Paper). Employee Assistance Programmes and Workplace Counselling Services of various types are becoming an increasingly common feature of working life, and one that psychologists, in particular counselling and occupational psychologists, have been involved in evaluating, recommending, criticising and implementing. There is plenty of evidence showing that workplace counselling is effective in reducing the symptoms of stress in individual clients, Far less research has been reported that studies the nature of the workplace counselling process, and in particular its relationship with its host organisation.Workplace counselling, as an intervention aimed at tackling the problem of ‘stress’ has been imported from the medical world into the organisational environment.In this paper the author provides illustrations of the relationship between individual change in the context of workplace counselling, and change and development within the organisational context. Some possible directions for the development of theory in this area are explored.The paper comprises of three case examples. The case material is descriptive of process and is presented in the absence of theory. A theoretical discussion follows each example.